21 Artists Feature ::: Sam Kirk :::

Sam KirkTackling Social Issues through Shared Experience and Expression

Featured ::: February 20, 2013

Sam Kirk’s new body of work revolves around the issue of homelessness, evoking feelings of sympathy and curiosity, inspiring her to make work. To get a better feel for her subject, Sam talks with homeless people around the city, learning their stories which then go into her pieces.

On her featured day with 21 Artists, despite the frigid temperatures, Sam and artist-in-residence Meg Peterson walked around downtown, picking through trash bins and discussing this issue, attempting to accumulate material for the paintings to be made in the studio.

Sam and Meg began their work by painting in roughly 30 minute increments then in the spirit of collaboration and trying something new, they switched places and worked on the other painting for another 30 before switching back.

Check out some shots of Sam at work:

Hear Sam discuss her process here:

About Sam Kirk:

“My work is about Provoking Culture! The culture within us, the culture we were born with ethnically, and the culture we create in our neighborhoods. My art explores the merging of these cultures and how it impacts us personally and the world around us.” -Sam Kirk-

Sam believes that she lives in a world that is allowing and pushing culture towards extinction. Her signature artistic theme stems directly from this reality and manifests itself in PROVOKE CULTURE. It’s a mantra that the artist incorporates into almost all of her work through layered texture and evocation. This request comes to life in bold colors, passion pushing each brushstroke and the content on every canvas. Sam believes, that provoking culture is her life’s work and she plans to do it in any way and through any medium she can.

“My art is about exposing personality, highlighting man-made culture and presenting my interpretation of major societal issues that are often silenced.” Sam’s art is the only way she truly feels comfortable addressing these kinds of issues. Art is the process in which her brain prefers to communicate a specific point of view. It’s a fluid conversation between her, the canvas she’s chosen and the audience that will experience it. The discussion doesn’t always go the way Sam plans, but she is always delighted by the result. Information and imagination overload propels Sam to bounce between multiple projects, setting free whatever her mind fancies at the time. From her signature color choices to the amount of detail from piece to piece. Sam lets her brain take her away to a place that only lives within her imagination. She succumbs to the process of unknowing and always celebrates in the sometimes beautiful, sometimes complex result.